El Mirage Dry Lake
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El Mirage Dry Lake is a dry lake bed in the Mojave Desert of California in the United States. The lake is located about nine miles northwest of the town of Adelanto, in San Bernardino County.
The dry lake is approximately six miles long and is about 10 miles north of Highway 18. El Mirage Dry Lake is part of the El Mirage OHV Recreation Area. It is also known to be an extremely popular filming location for automobile commercials.
For 50 years the lakebed has been used by the Southern California Timing Association for timed speed runs. The club also runs the Bonneville Salt Flats speed runs.
In the movie "Lethal Weapon" (1987), a famous scene in which officer Murtaugh (Danny Glover) tries to get his kidnapped daughter back, is entirely filmed at El Mirage. In addition to being an attractive filming location, the unique flat terrain allowed the pilot of a Bell 206 Jetranger helicopter to perform a very difficult sideway landing at very low altitude and very high airspeed.
Shania Twain's music video for "That Don't Impress Me Much" was filmed at El Mirage.
[edit] References
- California Road & Recreation Atlas, 2005, pg. 104